𝐃𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐓𝐄 - 𝘫𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘢𝘩 𝘧𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘳

II.

Claire grabs her teal bathing suit from the suitcase and rushes downstairs to met Jeremiah. He goes out the door.

"Come on!" He yells for Claire.

"Okay, I'm ready!" She grabs her towel and heads outside. They follow the path towards the beach.

Claire starts off the conversation. "Are you going to the bonfire tonight?"

"Yeah, how'd you know about it?"

"Belly heard from some guy at the gas station."

"Let me guess, was his name Jumper?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"Tell Belly not to talk to him. He's like 20."

Claire wrinkled her nose. "Ew, gross." She looks towards Jeremiah. "Can I come?"

"I mean yeah you can, you and Belly; but Steven wouldn't like it, neither would Conrad." Jeremiah says disappointed.

"Well I don't care about them."

"Are you not staying for movie night?" Jeremiah remembers.

"I told the moms I might not but I can't leave Belly."

"Bring Belly along."

"I'll ask her about it."

— ୨୧ —

After a few minutes, they reach the end of the path opening up to the entire beach.

"I've waited all year for this." Claire says relieved, looking out towards the ocean.

"You want to race?" Jeremiah asks looking over at her.

"No, I can't..."

"Oh, come on."

"Your legs are too long now. I can't do that." She immediately takes off running after finishing her sentence.

"Oh!" Jeremiah starts running after her.

"That was a bad start" Claire starts laughing

"You cheater!" He yells running right behind her.

They both drop their towels onto the sand before running into the water. They start splashing each other and Jeremiah starts tackling her.

— ୨୧ —

Later that evening, they all sit around the dining table. Claire, Laurel, and Belly on one side. Anne, Jeremiah, and Steven on the other. Susannah and Conrad sit at the ends of the table.

"Steven, I swear to God, if you look at that phone one more time, I'm putting it in the screen basket." Laurel starts to get mad.

"Steven listen to your mom." Anne comments.

"It's just, we want to see your beautiful faces." Susanna smiles at Steven.

"Can dinner be a screen-free zone? You know, like the olden days." Laurel looks at everyone.

"Steven." Jeremiah looks over at Steven who is still on his phone. Jeremiah snatches his phone and throws it into the screen basket.

"Dude, are you kidding me?" Steven complains.

"Boom! Nailed it."

"Okay, okay, okay, we get it, you've been working out." Steven gets annoyed

"Oh, you're just jealous because Jere has a better body than you." Belly says. Claire starts laughing and nods her head in agreement.

"Uh, no, actually, it's all about the lean look now. Otherwise, you can't wear tailored suits." Steven explains.

Everyone laughs